We spent 9 days in Texas starting on April 20, 2019. The purpose of the trip was to experience landfall of some of the billions of migratory birds that have crossed long distances over the Gulf of Mexico to reach North America. Many of these birds will make their way into norther Canada.

The Chuck-will’s-widow was an unexpected find. We heard it was at Boy Scout Woods in High Island, Texas on our last day. I asked one of the volunteers at the entrance if she knew where I could find this bird. She did better than that and got up and said follow me! My lucky day because trying to find one of these in dense forest on your own is nearly impossible because of this birds’ wonderful camouflage.

The name comes from the sound it makes, an incessant “Chuck-will’s-widow”